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Surfacing fat : adiposity as adornment

Darries, Mouroodah Sulayman (2013-12)

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis provides a critical discussion of, and motivation for, my jewellery practice, in
which fat from the human body is transformed into adornment. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s
theory of ‘abjection’, this research scrutinises the grotesque status of body substances in
the modern media, with the intention of changing viewer reactions to these substances
from repulsion to aesthetic enjoyment. I consider the influence of popular culture, where
idealised bodies are promoted as ‘better’ than non-normative body types, and then
consider how (or whether) the abject remainders of the ‘ideal body’ can successfully be
refigured as adornment. In order to situate my practical Masters work in the wider field of
contemporary avant-garde jewellery practice, I study the work of select jewellers, who also
refer to, or use, body substances in critical ways in their work. Through this, I hope to
scrutinise both normative notions of the body and of jewellery as adornment.